


Whispered Promises

by Kuroya



Series: Warden's Promise [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Fluff, M/M, and your angst, hinted Alistair/Morrigan, idek what else to put here tbqh, just take your fluff and go, onesided Male Mahariel/Morrigan, prompt series, take that too
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-19 03:05:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 5,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3594006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuroya/pseuds/Kuroya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a series of small prompts for my little mini-series, Warden's Promise, which follows my Warden (Riri Mahariel) and how he met and fell for one Zevran Arainai.  Most will be short and sweet.  Anything longer will be put separate.  Updates will be unpredictable and sporadic at best.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Speech

They had all known it was coming. It always did after a battle, particularly if Riri had been less effective at drawing foes than usual. For all of his threats and bluster when things grew tight, the Warden was actually quite protective, and it wasn't hard for the companions to understand how deeply the elf's feelings ran, though the reasons why were ones that the male kept firmly under wraps. He didn't even like talking about his origins, though Alistair had sworn up and down that the elf had worn Dalish armor when they first met and Morrigan had pried out enough to understand that he was no longer welcome where he had come from.  
  
The fact that few of the other companions were particularly fond of the Antivan certainly contributed to their eagerness to see the now-famous Gray Warden Injury Speech. Word spread quickly, and even Morrigan and Alistair agreed to a temporary truce in order to better watch the ex-Crow be the victim. Many tarried around the fire, eager to wait for the Gray Warden to return from where he was establishing a perimeter.  
  
They did not have to wait long.  
  
Riri stormed out of the forest like the darkspawn he wished to defeat, the elf obviously upset, his mabari Terrivan darting at his heels trying to cheer his master up. He dropped a pile of wood near the fire, barely acknowledging the others before he was right on top of the injured Zevran who was nursing both a sling and the pot of the night's stew. The Antivan, unaware of the danger he was in but sensing something was wrong, attempted a gentle smile. " _Mi querido_ ," he began, but the Gray Warden cut him off, Terrivan whining at his side but unable to do anything.  
  
"I thought I told you to not do anything stupid!" Riri spat out, obviously trying to hiss and failing: the entire camp could make out every word. "I told you not to do anything rash, you're not in the Crows anymore, and what I say goes! If I tell you to stop, you stop! If I tell you to run away, you run away! And if I tell you to come back and let me handle things, then yo-"  
  
Morrigan and Alistair, who had been mouthing the words of the familiar speech alongside their Warden, stood in shock as Zevran yanked the larger elf down for a kiss, their lips meeting mid-word. No one had ever managed to successfully avoid the Gray Warden Injury Speech. No one. Not even Terrivan or Sten. Riri's hands flexed at his sides, seeming torn between remaining passive or pushing the injured rogue back, but to their surprise, the warrior did not jerk himself back. The tension did not leave that wired form, but in a way, it did disperse down it, instead dissolving the anger into something softer, more vulnerable, something that made both ex-Templar and mage want to look away.  
  
The pair parted slightly, but even though their lips were separate, the two elves leaned their foreheads together, the Warden's shorter mess of white hair doing little to hide their faces, Zevran's gentle while Riri's was flushed. The rogue murmured a few words to the warrior, and though strain as they might, none of them managed to catch what was said that made the pressure drain away from Riri like water through sand. Claiming some excuse about needing to check the assassin's bandages, the pair fled to Riri's tent, Terrivan trotting after them and then lying down in front of the flap, the mabari loyally serving as a guard to his master's privacy.  
  
"What did he say?" Alistair asked, absolutely dumbfounded by the events - not even when they were sure that Riri felt something for Morrigan had the elf been so thoroughly distracted from his speech.  
  
"No idea," Morrigan sniffed, huffing and crossing her arms as she glared holes at the lounging dog, almost as though she expected Terrivan to sit up and tell her the answer. "But whatever it was, it made him close ranks in a way I've never seen in him before, even when we got close to what happened before he was recruited."  
  
' _I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe,_ amorcito _. Always_.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amorcito - love / sweetie  
> Mi querido - my darling / my dear


	2. Watch

Zevran grunted at the sudden warm weight on his legs. Scowling a little, he lifted his head from where it was pillowed on a warm arm - they'd found out a while ago, back when Riri first insisted that they share a bedroll, that the Antivan did not wake well when he was being held, so the Warden often let the assassin arrange the two of them to his liking - and mustered a sleepy, half-serious glare down at the mabari lying sprawled across the tangle of their calves. " _Zape, zape_ ," the elf muttered, waving a hand at the canine who just wiggled his behind in response.  
  
A gentle kiss behind his ear had him starting, turning to regard gentle amber eyes. "Let him be, Zev," Riri murmured softly. "Rivan isn't doing any harm, and besides, his warmth will be welcome later in the night."  
  
The assassin snorted, rolling his eyes, though he lay his head back down against the Warden's shoulder, accepting the gentle fingers running through his hair. "I still don't know how that dog does it," he mumbled, earning himself an uncharacteristic laugh from his partner, which did strange things to their entwined bodies.  
  
"Rivan's a mabari," Riri replied, as if that settled things. And maybe it did; after all, who could say that other mabari weren't capable of always managing to know when the two elves were wanting another round of kissing and when they were suitably exhausted and wanting nothing more than to share lazy kisses and rest against each other. One such gentle kiss was pressed just under the assassin's ear, distracting without arousing. "Come to bed. You're safe enough here for that."  
  
Terrivan laid his head on his paws as the moon rose higher, keeping watch over the elves as they slumbered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zape - shoo


	3. Bath

The sound of barking distracted Riri from where he was bathing himself, the elf lifting his head with a furrowed brow. "Rivan?" he called warily, moving towards the shore and his weapons. His daggers rested out of reach, and he knew that that it had been stupid with so much unrest, but he trusted in the mabari to give him enough notice to allow for a proper bath without Morrigan's lingering looks or Alistair's joking. If he had been in the water, he might have scrubbed at himself harshly with the soap. It was the only way to cleanse the truth away from him, the darkness that lurked behind him. He could not afford to have anyone in his heart. Could not, could not, could not.  
  
The silence of the hound worried the Warden, and he barely paused to pull on his smalls before he had a dagger in his hand, straining his senses for darkspawn or a cracked branch. He stole through the forest quickly, wincing as his bare feet were scratched by some of the rougher foliage, but he was quick, making his way swiftly to Terrivan's side, worried for the dog.  
  
Terrivan let out a bark when the elf appeared from behind him like a ghost, canine and master more in tune with each other than they had any right to be, and Riri was confused by the way that he was crouching in front of a tree until the moment that he picked out a familiar form from amidst the branches. The Warden jolted, standing a little straighter, his jaw firming. "Is this how you repay everyone who saves their life?" he asked coldly, tightening his grip on his weapon. "With a dagger to the back?"  
  
Zevran licked his lips, obviously aware of what fragile ground he stood on, yet he didn't seem to be too frightened by the danger. "I had merely meant to sample a taste of the man who saved my life," he began. "I am not used to being around a man who does not respond to my charms after expressing an interest. I merely-"  
  
"Didn't expect me to bathe with my mabari," Riri finished, eyes narrowed. "And you expect me to believe that?"  
  
The assassin flashed a charming smile. "Search me if you like, _mi querido_ , I have nothing to hide from such a beautiful man."  
  
The Warden's cheeks flushed, suddenly aware of how the other elf's eyes were roaming, and he clicked his tongue, causing the canine's ears to prick up. "Keep him treed, Rivan. Morrigan will find the truth of his tale when we return to camp."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mi querido - my darling / my dear


	4. Name

"Some might make assumptions based upon your companion, you know."  
  
Zevran's voice startled Riri from where he was playing with Terrivan, the Warden jumping and the dog taking advantage of his master startling to instead snatch the toy from the slackened fingers. Frowning slightly as the mabari ran off, no doubt to engage Alistair or Sten in similar combat,the Warden instead shifted to regard the rogue with suspicious eyes. "What do you mean, make assumptions? There's nothing to assume about Rivan. He's always slept in my tent, and he is fond of me because he's Imprinted. What else is there to assume?"  
  
The assassin chortled. "Not about the dog, _mi querido_. About us." He was practically purring now, and Riri had never felt more like a mouse since he had been in the Fade, where he actually was one. "You favor calling the dog 'Rivan', and while I can certainly appreciate that it is a shortening of what is otherwise a long and confusing name, it also carries insinuations of our relationship. Your name shortens to Ri, and I'm sure you remember that my friends call me Zev."  
  
Riri frowned, obviously not reaching the same conclusion. "You have claimed to have no friends, what use have assassins for fri-" It all clicked at once, and the Warden immediately flushed, scrambling to his feet and aggressively busying himself with dusting his armor off. "I'll have you know that Terrivan received his nickname long before we became acquainted, and even if it did not, I would never have named my mabari after a relationship that doesn't exist between myself and one of my companions!"  
  
As Riri stormed off, Zevran couldn't help but to chuckle softly at the retreating form, reading the tension in those lines. ' _Not yet, my dear Warden, but you are weakening. Your resolve will not last forever._  
  
' _You love too strongly for that._ '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mi querido - My darling / My dear


	5. Absence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Character death, mourning.  
> Post-game.

Terrivan was barking again.  
  
Zevran groaned as he opened his eyes, lying on his back staring at the ceiling, stirring from the alcohol-induced slumber he had engaged in. It was only in the Fade that he was permitted a moment to rest, but it seemed that fate wished to rob him of that too. He closed his eyes, hoping that the mabari would quiet on his own, but there was no such luck.  
  
"Riri is dead!" he snapped finally, when he could stand it no longer. "Riri is dead and he is never coming home! _Maldita sea_ , can't you see? He broke his promise, and he will never return, no more than the others?" The pain blossomed in his chest - how he hated to give voice to the name of the absence, something he skirted his thoughts and his life around as thoroughly as he could. There was nothing worth remaining for, not without the Warden, and yet he lingered, keeping his word to someone who was surely long gone.  
  
Terrivan stared at him with pain in his eyes, and after a long moment, the mabari clambered up into the bed as well, nudging into his limp arms and lying against his chest. The two fell asleep like that, twin survivors clinging to the edge of a great hole that threatened to swallow them up, united by their common cause when in any other case they might have taken themselves to destruction.  
  
Zevran did not dream again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maldita sea - Damn it


	6. Standard

Zevran was not in a good mood. Nursing some brandy - not Antivan, sadly, and although it was good, it was missing that certain kick that reminded him of home - he was thinking back to the elf who had caught his eye. Cropped white hair that somehow managed to still look wild, bright amber eyes the color of a topaz... ah, and a heart like the purest spring. He was innocent but not, the sort to judge but not say a word, and he obviously gave so much.  
  
A far cry from the harsh warrior who had held a dagger to his throat, a snarling mabari at his heels, so to speak, as he demanded the assassin to surrender, but then, Zevran had always had a taste for dangerous men.  
  
And therein lay the problem. He was good at this, always managed to end up tangled in the sheets with whoever happened to capture his fancy at the time, except for now. And it was frustrating since his advances had been returned (awkwardly, mind you, and with the hesitance that screamed of having never been the subject of such passion before, and oh how that excited him too, the thought of taking what no one had reached for before) but there had been no further progress. No kisses, no requests for privacy, no shy little glances in his direction... nothing. He may as well have threatened him for all the response that he got out of his interest.  
  
It could not be that he was below the other elf's standards. No, the assassin was far too attractive for that, especially given that he'd seen the way those eyes lingered when they had spoken before. He was wanted, that much was certain, so then why the hesitation? Why wait? Why-  
  
A hand hovered over the brandy as a thought occurred to him. ' _Could it be... that he thinks himself too little for me?_ ' It was a preposterous thought... but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. The elf had confidence on the battlefield and commanding, but the way that he carried himself, the weight on that brow when he thought himself alone or out of the center of attention... it spoke of a certain self-hatred that recolored all of the shyness that had characterized their conversations. The warrior had not shied away from handsome because he was surprised. He had shied away because he had thought himself truly unworthy of such praise.  
  
Tumbler forgotten, the assassin got to his feet and breezed out of the tent. Riri had some standards that needed adjusting.


	7. Sacrifice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post-game.

The sun beat down upon Antiva City, slowly baking the residents into a warm broil, and for most of the locals, the temperature was comfortable, something to bask in.  
  
That comfort was not, however, extended towards a certain Gray Warden who pressed uncomfortably back into the shade, having long since given in and swapped his usual warm massive armor (with the Gray Warden's sigil, which would have given him away in a glance) for a lighter leather that usually left his partner purring in want and approval. Even so, he was hot, and with a large mabari leaning against his legs, he was all the more warm. It was a wonder he had not fainted from heatstroke - his constitution was not meant for such warm weather, though he knew that his beloved thrived in such heat.  
  
Riri panted, head hung low in the glance stolen towards the shadows where he hid, and once again, Zevran felt a mild jolt of guilt for having to bring his Warden into this mess. He would have done anything to avoid bringing the warrior to such a place... though that was not true. He wanted to show his beautiful _querido_ his beautiful city, but he would have slowly adjusted the other elf to the heat, taking care not to push the larger male who was so used to the cold. If it weren't for the Crows, he would have too, but that moment of watching Riri's face turn, for him to start coughing up blood in a way he never had when they had faced down the darkspawn... it had terrified him. If Terrivan had not knocked the cup from the elf's hand, barking and whining... he dared not think what might have become of the Hero of Ferelden.  
  
Business before pleasure. But oh how he wished there was not the business of making sure all of the Crows knew that to take a bounty on either of them was tantamount to signing your own execution order.  
  
He had been making progress tracking the Crows around the market, but when he saw the way that Riri swayed, he knew what his choice was.  
  
The Dalish elf blinked at the sudden presence of his lover, sighing gently at the gentle press of a cool cloth to his head, the water trickling down. "Any luck finding the entrance?" Riri asked softly, and Zevran shook his head.  
  
"The Crows seem to be hiding their feathers today, _mi querido_ ," he answered, twining their hands together and shooing the mabari away from where the dog was leaning between them. "Come, let us return home. A lovely woman told me that an ice bath works wonders on those unfamiliar with the Antivan sun, and I had thought it worth a try at cooling you down, no?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mi querido - my darling


	8. Affection

"Zevran!" Riri cried, his hands trying to push off his clingy lover. The elves were without their shirts, and though the Warden had his pants on, they were hanging low on his hips from the grip the ex-Crow kept on them, trying to pull him back under their furs. It was early, and the assassin was sabotaging the warrior's attempts at early morning guard duty via tickling fingers and nibbling to his neck and collarbone, both things that had the larger biting down the laughter threatening to bubble up. "Zev, stop!"  
  
"Not until you agree to stay, _mi querido_."  
  
"Ze-" The protest halted mid-syllable, dying out as the hand that he had been using to push the rogue's face away was instead... greeted with a gentle kiss. His determination faltered under that kiss, and with a flash of knowing eyes from the Antivan, they continued, those lips tracing up and down his fingers and palm. Riri's breath caught at the feeling, and he trembled slightly, almost as if he was a halla about to bolt for shelter, but that one final, lingering kiss to his palm... it made him sigh, relax and bear his throat slightly in a gesture of surrender.   
  
" _Te amo, mi cielo_ ," the rogue murmured roughly, his accent prominent.  
  
Amber eyes peeked out from behind the silvery white hair that hid them. "I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mi querido - my darling  
> Te amo, mi cielo - I love you, my heaven/sky


	9. Endurance

Riri laughed at the sight of Zevran huddling in the furs on their bed, the Dalish surprised by the sight even as his assassin attempted a vague protest. "I simply don't understand how you Fereldens stand the cold!" the Antivan complained as he opened the furs enough to allow the Warden inside, pressing himself to the furnace that was his lover. "In Antiva, the sun strokes your cheek and warms you, where here it hides behind the clouds. But that I could share your warmth, _mi amor_."  
  
The warrior chuckled, pressing a kiss to his rogue's golden hair. "As soon as we have everything in order, we can travel south for the winter," he reassured. "Though you know I would never begrudge you Rivan and a return to Antiva until I have finished, Zevran."  
  
The assassin scowled and butted his head against Riri, every inch a cat curled up on the warmest patch of sunlight he could find. "Don't be foolish, _mi querido_ ," he murmured quickly, tugging the furs a little closer around them to ensure that the heat the larger radiated could not escape so easily. "Without your generous services, I would be little more than a frozen block of Crow."  
  
The Dalish shook his head and wrapped his arms tightly around his lover. The mabari was a far warmer bed partner than he was, but if Zevran insisted on sharing their furs when Alistair did not need him to help forge alliances and form treaties, Riri was hardly going to protest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mi amor - my love  
> Mi querido - my darling/dear


	10. Meeting

Zevran had thought him a rogue, at first.  
  
To be fair, most elves were rogues, or mages if they were particularly gifted. They were skilled at stealth and speed, two very important things for rogues, and it was rare for one to have the strength behind them to handle large weapons for periods as long as a dwarf or a human. Elves had quick fingers and the flexibility to encourage the life of a bard or an assassin. And when the party consisted of one large warhound, two mage women, a chantry girl, a kossith, and a human with heavy mail, well, it was hard to pin the slight elf with the mane of silvery white hair as anything but a rogue.  
  
He had thought that the elf would go for his bow, which was strapped to his back. Instead, he was shocked to find the other charging right through the arrows and spells to wheel around with a speed he hadn't thought possible, a blade in each hand in the same way that he himself carried them, although the larger elf used smaller blades than the Antivan did. Zevran had to put a considerable amount of his strength behind holding that dagger back from his face, nearly losing the guard as the large, barking hound darted past him to slam into the mage that he had recruited. And that had only been the first attack.  
  
The second had come with the only warning being a flash of bright amber eyes, and then there was a strong smack to his head, pushing him down and into the comfort of blackness. Who would have thought that an elf that delicate, that ethereal, that beautiful could have been a warrior? Certainly not the assassin.  
  
Even more surprising, however, was when he opened his eyes to see the elf with blades crossed, defending him from the quanari's weapon and insisting that he had yielded. His life had been spared by an elf that was not a rogue and, upon closer look, by one of the very Gray Warden he had been hired to kill. The elf argued with the others - notably the mage with the dark hair and sharp eyes and the feathers - but he did not back down. The assassin's life was to be spared. He had yielded.  
  
His name was Riri, and he was nothing like Zevran had ever known.


	11. First

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of Standard

Riri was ridiculously cute when he blushed, Zevran decided as he pushed the larger elf against a wall, pinning him with his hips. "Zev," the Warden gasped, but the assassin wasted no time, well aware of the fact that Alistair or Morrigan or one of the others could walk around the corner and see them, pressed against the wall of the Redcliffe chantry when they ought to be organizing the last-minute defenses for the town.  
  
Instead, he leaned in and brushed their lips together, something that made the warrior stiffen in shock, the small movement sending a shudder down that lean body. Riri gasped against his lips, but Zevran didn't take advantage, instead keeping the movement chaste. Slow was the method he would have to use on this one, but to nudge the Warden out of his shell, he would have to tear it away in one decisive moment first.  
  
Riri shuddered, melting into him a little, and that was when the assassin knew that he had won, softening the kiss even more and just moving along with it because he could. They remained together for a moment more, bodies pressed against each other, the rogue's grip loosening around the wrists he had pinned. They parted only to go back in, sharing shy little kisses that were sometimes the result of the Dalish leaning forward to follow and others the urge from the Antivan where he simply couldn't get enough of that herbal flavor that was purely _Riri_.  
  
Finally, after what seemed like hours of trading affections, Zevran leaned his forehead against Riri's, watching as dazed amber eyes opened to pull him in. Letting his hand lift to twine their fingers together, the rogue made certain there was no doubt in his mind before he spoke. "Be mine, _mi amor_?" he asked. "You are _perfecto, mi querido_ , all I could want."  
  
Riri flushed, but he didn't pull away. "All right," he agreed softly. Zevran would be his first, but he didn't want to tell him that. Not when he had been told so many times that the first was the best and the hardest.  
  
He would fall head over heels for the assassin, and although he didn't mind that, he was terrified of the fall that would come when the assassin broke his heart as all first loves did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mi amor - my love  
> Perfecto - perfect  
> Mi querido - my darling/dear


	12. Turmoil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of Meeting

"Tying someone up does not usually involve having them sat on by a mangy animal."  
  
Morrigan's words were rather harsh, and Riri bristled slightly at their implication. "Ropes cannot chase down a potential escapee. Rivan can."  
  
The two had been at slight odds for a while now, the result of an argument that Alistair had very carefully been skirting out of fear that he would find himself iced into his bedroll. Usually the mage held her tongue about the mabari, knowing how much the elf protected the animal, but with her usual sense of when to stop with their leader not in place, it had led to him awkwardly trying to keep the peace since apparently he was the only one stupid enough to accept the impossible task even Lelianna had shied from. "Right. Well. After we get the information out of him on who wants us dead so badly, we'll leave him for the crows. Sound like a plan?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
"No."  
  
Morrigan wheeled on the warrior. "What? For the first time, the failed Templar goes making sense, and you reject it!"  
  
Riri lifted his chin, topaz eyes flashing. "I said no, Morrigan."  
  
"We do not have the time for a proper burial, and I am not wasting my mana on burning the corpse out of some misplaced sense of mercy! He had a dagger aimed for your back, and had I not frozen his legs, he would have killed you as surely as the sun rises in the east!"  
  
"I will not kill him."  
  
The mage stared at him for a moment longer before throwing up her hands. "If you are dead in your bed, I refuse to take responsibility!"  
  
Alistair sighed and trailed after her, recognizing that resigned, contemplative look on the other Gray Warden's face - it was a new feature of most strategy talks at night in camp. There would be no reasoning with Riri now, and it would be better if he took the ire of the shapeshifter, for all of their sakes.  
  
After all, the elf did have a point when he said Terrivan was better than any ropes. The dog was certainly heavy enough to prevent any escapes, and those teeth would take out an ankle far better than any rope could.


	13. Trifles

The moment they exited the tavern, Riri's gauntlet slammed into the stone beside it, his expression dark. "How dare they!" he spat, his jaw clenching. "I am not some puppet for them to order around as they please! Antivan Crows or not, they can't just... ugh!"

Morrigan opened her mouth to retort before deciding better of it, closing her lips again and pointedly digging her elbow into Alistair's side when the Gray Warden looked on the brink of the same before she decided that it would be better to take the Templar and make for the market. While she may have taken pleasure in his suffering, she would rather not lose one of her favorite outlets for frustration, at least at this moment when she needed the opportunities to torment someone.

It was Zevran who came forward, the assassin placing a hand on the Dalish's shoulder. "Riri, I like you being around the Crows no more than you do, but for the moment, their goals and ours are one and the same, no?" The smaller elf didn't even flinch from the low sound of anger that came from the larger's chest, instead letting his hand drift lower so that he could tangle his fingers with those of the fist that wasn't buried in the wall, the deft digits smoothing out those hidden behind heavy metal. "They are worse than scum, _mi cielo_ , but they want a man dead who is killing those who would support you. Surely that is reason enough to keep quiet?"

"He wanted to kill you!" Riri ground out, and the Antivan laughed.

"Most people do at one point or another, _mi querido_. It is part of my charm." His voice was soothing and his free hand reached up to brush some of the messy white hair away from the amber eyes that seemed molten in their intensity, just the sort to snare an unsuspecting insect for its prey. "The contract was taken by another, and although the Crows want me dead, they will not touch a taken contract in these parts, or at least, they are not brave enough yet."

"He called you a whore's son," the warrior muttered darkly, scowling and making as if to go back; it was rather cute, the rogue mused, the way that he was acting as if the man had spit on Zevran's honor and the elf was duty-bound to defend the slight, however capable his partner was of defending it alone.

" _Mi cielo_ , why does it matter? There are far worse things to insult me with, and this one is certainly true-"

" **Just because it's true does not mean I'm not insulted**!" Riri roared, head jerking up and eyes blazing with the kind of expression Zevran had never seen before, not even in the midst of battle or even when the Dalish had stood down demons. It was fierce and powerful, something that took the assassin's breath away at the sight, a kind of beauty that had never been offered to him before.

The Warden swiftly found himself with a very exuberant assassin pressing him against that tavern wall, his lips occupied and... Fen'Harel, was that a tongue in his mouth? A surprised noise escaped him, drawn out into a moan as the tension bled from his body, the two elves remaining for a moment longer before, reluctantly, Zevran parted from Riri, though he remained well within the warrior's space.

"Fine," the Dalish grumbled, "I won't do anything rash. But if they try to kill you, I'm burning them to the ground, all-powerful assassin guild or not."

Zevran laughed, sharing another kiss that earned him a shy blush and a splutter before he had stepped out of range again, clasping a single gauntleted hand and tugging on it gently, leading the Warden away from the tavern. "That sounds fair enough to me, _mi cielo_. Now let us find the others, preferably before Lady Morrigan decides to come looking for us, no?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mi cielo - my sky/heaven  
> Mi querido - my darling/dear


End file.
